Company Overview

With a commitment to exceptional customer service and affordable, quality goods, Phoenix Leather Goods (PLG) was founded in 1997. As a small family business, the company began selling products in Midwest flea markets before selling on eBay and launching their site BeltOutlet.com. In 2004, PLG moved into a warehouse and office facility in Plainfield, IL. In 2016, PLG acquired the rights to CrookhornDavis, a men’s luxury accessories brand originally established in 1948. PLG now operates out of an expanded corporate facility in Bolingbrook, IL. “We are very thankful that God has blessed our business,” says Owner/Founder Gary Monds. “Our company is Christian-based. We try to honor God in the way we treat our customers, our suppliers and our associates. We’re committed to our core value, ‘We Sell To Help’, with over 15% of all net profits donated to non-profit, charitable organizations.”

The Situation

After launching their webstore BeltOutlet.com and on eBay and Amazon, PLG wanted to expand to additional marketplaces to reach new customers and increase sales. Expanding their marketplace presence, however, meant they would no longer have the time or labor to upload their product feed across channels. The company also recognized the need for a more efficient solution to manage their products.

“When we were selling on eBay, Amazon and BeltOutlet.com, it was easy to manage our products,” says Brad Rusin, director of e-commerce, PLG. “But as the business started to scale, there were too many SKUs to manage. It wasn’t practical anymore. We needed an automated solution that would help us manage those channels with accurate pricing, inventory and product information.”

The Solution

PLG turned to ChannelAdvisor’s Marketplaces to manage product inventory, expand products into multiple marketplaces and optimize product content globally. “We knew that ChannelAdvisor could accommodate our expansion into multiple marketplaces. It was exactly what we needed to connect with more customers and increase our sales,” says Rusin.

After seeing success across marketplaces, PLG started using ChannelAdvisor’s Digital Marketing to enhance its online advertising efforts and drive traffic to sites. Working with ChannelAdvisor, the company implemented paid search campaigns across multiple search engines, including Google and Bing.

The Results

Today, PLG manages 14,000 SKUs across 13 global marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Sears, Jet, Overstock and Walmart, and two webstores. Over the last five years, PLG reports 500% growth in international sales and projects $10 million in sales in 2018. “ChannelAdvisor is the only way we could manage all these channels,” says Rusin. “It streamlined tasks that would typically take a great deal of time. Consolidating the listing process to a single platform saves us time and manpower.”

Implementing paid search campaigns has also proven effective for PLG. Rusin says the reporting and analytics are helpful, and the ChannelAdvisor team always keeps a close eye on them. “We receive weekly and monthly reports, so we can check our performance – overall and down to a campaign level. This helps us generate new ideas and work together with ChannelAdvisor to grow campaigns and keep them as efficient as possible.”

Rusin adds, “The platform is easy to use. It’s fantastic at taking a tremendous amount of complex information and dividing it into digestible pieces that we can look at, analyze and act on.”

“The e-commerce landscape changes quickly, especially with Amazon driving much of that change,” says Rusin. “Having a platform like ChannelAdvisor allows us to keep up with changes and remain relevant. There is a lot of growth opportunity in the industry, but it’s also incredibly competitive. ChannelAdvisor help us stay on top of it.”